Nussle: It's a great question and I'm not sure that 16 days in that I'm able to give you a complete answer to that; that's something that we've been discussing internally and there are many factors that are going to play into that answer so I'm going to dodge your question a little bit and say that to start with you have the overall atmospherics.

Is anything moving in the Congress? So, what does the Congress look like after the election? What is the makeup? What is their agenda? We all know our agenda and their agenda is different, which is certainly one of those challenges we will have to overcome. Second, is anything moving? If you're in Washington right now to prevent something bad from happening to your industry, you look like a genius because everything is being prevented from moving. We have some things we want to prevent – no question. Certainly, we want to prevent any changes to the tax-exempt status for credit unions, that's part of the reason why we are who we are and what we are and how we serve our members.

One opportunity we have is to recognize that we're not in this alone. Small credit unions, credit unions of all shapes and sizes, as well as small community banks, have much in common with regard to regulatory challenges. I'm going to be meeting with [Independent Community Bankers of America President/CEO] Camden Fine and we're hopefully, going to have an opportunity to talk through from a community bankers' standpoint, areas of commonality. We know we're going to fight on issues. We know we're going to disagree on issues and on those issues, I will be just a strong as anyone would expect, maybe even stronger but on areas where we can work together in order to possibly surprise Congress, meaning, surprise them that bankers and credit unions actually have various common interests, that might work to our benefit in trying to move legislation.

CU Times: You mentioned the common interests of credit unions and community banks. It seems that some of the rhetoric from Capitol Hill puts credit unions behind community banks. Sometimes, they are an afterthought when regulatory issues are discussed. Are you going to try to remedy that?

Nussle: You're saying it exactly right. Why is it an afterthought? I think part of that is because our advocacy, while we know it historically to be quite effective and strong, is there a way to be even stronger? Is there a way to be even more sophisticated? Is there a way to bring more public awareness to this issue and engage the 100 million memberships and the almost 7,000 credit unions in a way that is even more effective and more powerful? So, yes is the answer. It's certainly a priority but I take it as a much broader issue than just congressional legislative strategy.

CU Times: Given the gridlock in Congress, do you think CUNA's strategy of supporting a mix of candidates from both parties is the best way to move credit union issues forward?

Nussle: We support candidates that support credit unions and that just happens to be, and thankfully, a bipartisan consensus that there are many on both sides that are supportive of credit unions and we want to help them because they are willing to help us. It just happens to be a very bipartisan scenario and almost equally bipartisan. It's not regionally based or philosophically based in one party or the other. I have not detected a specific attempt to make it equal; that just happens to be the case because of the strength of the bipartisan support that there is for credit unions.

CU Times: Do you plan to revise or eliminate the current dual membership requirement?

Nussle: The board of CUNA has established a task force for the discussion of governance and that task force has been given the charge to consider just about everything. I'm not aware of anything they're not willing and able to consider.

We've been doing a lot of listening to our partners, our members, our constituents and to stakeholders so at this point in time, I think it's premature to comment on that and say one way or the other. We believe we have a very strong system. I can tell you that one of the reasons I took this job was the strength of the system and the reputation that system has outside of the four walls of the CUNA offices, meaning, there are many organizations in Washington who would love to have our quote unquote challenges, having the kind of state system that we have.

I'm going to leave it at that and let our task force do its work and hopefully, in that process, I'll have an opportunity to form a stronger opinion one way or another.

CU Times: We've seen the number of credit unions shrink due to mergers. Is that something you hope to address as CEO?

Nussle: It's one of those things certainly that many industries are facing and the credit union industry is similar in many respects to many industries that are consolidating, some as a result of the great recession and challenges that have come out of that – the burden and costs of regulation. So, there are a lot factors that go into it. I'm at this point in time doing a lot of learning about those different factors and I've learned a lot already certainly. But, as you know, each one is slightly different in its context so at this point, I don't know if there is something in particular that CUNA would be in a position to specifically do about mergers as much as to make sure that our charter is as strong as possible for the future of credit unions and that we do what we can to provide a positive value proposition to our members so that they can be most effective in the service that they do so well for their members.

CU Times: Do you see a connection between the regulatory landscape and the issue of mergers?

Nussle: Yes, I certainly heard that from my member credit unions already and our job is to remove barriers. Part of our job is to recognize every opportunity we can remove barriers so credit unions can be the most effective financial partners for their members.

There's no question that I've heard that part of the challenge is the cost of regulatory burden. It may not be everything but it certainly is a large part of that.